Therefore, Zheng Yinian's trip to the south was strongly encouraged by Hong Ya, Qin Hui and others. Although the Jin Dynasty's top leaders may not have reached a unified understanding, some of them tacitly agreed to it and it was a test of the waters... But for the Jin Dynasty's top leaders, this throw was just a small stone, which did not matter at all. But for Hong Ya, Qin Hui and others, it was a move that they had great expectations for.
To put it bluntly, who would want to hang around in the north when you can be a rich and powerful official in the south?
As for this Han Chinese from Yan, Gao Yigong, Hong and Qin were very thoughtful and had already thought of the possibility that Zheng Yinian would never come back after reaching the south, so they made some arrangements in advance.
And now, this arrangement is actually of little use except to confirm Zheng Yinian's cowardice and giving up... Gao Yigong didn't need to communicate carefully and report in detail. Hong Ya and Qin Hui knew about the "false accusation" through the court reports a long time ago, and now they have already learned that "those who serve the Jin people and are traitors to the Song Dynasty are not included".
But then again, even though he had known the result for a long time, after hearing the servant's personal report, Hong Ya, who was sitting in Liaocheng, could not help but sigh to the sky and became restless.
After waiting for another two days, despite the cold winter weather, the prime minister of the Great Qi State, because of the torment in his heart, could not help but personally bring the servant named Gao and went to Daming Prefecture again.
At this moment, the real tiger, Nianhan, was hiding in Daming Prefecture. The former master, Talai, was like a wild dog that had invaded the nest, and he did not say a word. The other generals also bowed their heads in obedience. This situation made Hong Ya feel helpless... Eight out of ten of his authority and ability were maintained by his personal relationship with Talai. As long as Nianhan did not leave, he would be like a spider with its hands and feet tied, unable to stretch at all.
Therefore, after drinking some wine with Talai and trying to flatter and comfort him with a few words, Hong Ya immediately turned around to look for Qin Huizhi, who was in Daming Mansion at that time, and then asked Gao's servant to repeat what he had seen and heard in person.
"Is it really useless?"
In the most secluded bedroom, after the servants left, even a figure like Qin Hui could not help but feel sad for a moment, and then he leaned on the newly built kang with his hands clasped together. "Why is the one in the south so determined? I still don't want to believe it..."
Hong Ya, who was a little drunk, sat cross-legged on the heated kang brought from Liaodong by the Jurchens. He held a bowl of hangover tea and shook his head repeatedly, "Brother Huizhi, I advise you not to think like that... You must not learn from Zheng Yinian to become a rich man. After all, Zheng Yinian was innocent before, but there are countless Jin generals in the north who know that you and Talan are doing clerkship. Even Zheng Yinian knows a thing or two. If you insist on going south, you will only seek your own death!"
"You don't even give me a chance?" Qin Hui couldn't help but curl up his feet and sit cross-legged, as if he was forcibly suppressing the injustice in his chest. "I just wrote a few documents for the Jin people, and you want to not pardon me? Are all my contributions and hard work in the past during the Jingkang period also wiped out?"
Hong Ya sneered, with obvious sarcasm in his voice: "Brother Huizhi... your words are meaningless. If you and I feel wronged, so many people have died in Hebei, Henan, Jingdong, and Guanxi. Who should we complain to? Haven't you read the reports from the south? Even now, Dongting Lake in the south is also fighting a rebellion, and there are countless people starving and freezing in and outside Daming City. We can lie on the kang, drink wine and eat tea, why should we feel wronged?"
Qin Huizhi, who was sitting opposite, had a blank expression on his face. He just clasped his hands together and said nothing.
"Don't pretend." Seeing this, Hong Ya continued to mock him under the influence of alcohol. "Do you dare to say that you didn't understand when you gave advice and wrote documents for Marshal Talai? You are a successful Jinshi, the grandson-in-law of the prime minister, the chief censor, and the prime minister's student... The Wang Xianggong who burned himself in Luoyang was your mentor, right? Your background and knowledge are much better than mine. Even people like me know what I am doing when I surrender, so how can you not understand?!"
Qin Hui finally let go and sighed: "Mr. Hong, it's not that I don't understand, but there are three things I didn't expect..."
Hong Ya picked up the soup and took a sip, obviously not taking it seriously.
"The first thing is that I really didn't expect the Jin people to be so difficult to deal with. They forced me to do things again and again. From verbal suggestions at the beginning to handwritten documents, it was difficult to pull them out... Looking back, I didn't realize that I had already left so many excuses."
Hong Ya sneered in his heart… When others were freezing and starving in Wuguo City, you, Qin Huizhi, were living in a big house and having a heated kang in Yanjing and Damingfu. You didn't think of any excuse, right?
Qin Hui knew what the other party was thinking just by looking at his expression, but he just continued to sigh: "The second thing is that I really didn't expect the southern official to be so stubborn and unwilling to give in even a little bit."
Hong Ya lowered his head and drank the soup without any reaction at all... With the national hatred and family hatred of the southern officials, what's wrong with being so tough? Shouldn't he?
"The third thing..." Qin Huizhi looked up at him and spoke earnestly. "Mr. Hong, tell me, when we were so nervous, how could we have thought that the South would win, and how could we have thought that we would be in this situation today?"
Hong Ya finally stopped drinking the soup and was silent for a moment, but just a moment later, he threw the bowl of soup in his hand to the ground.
After all, they were all traitors of the Song Dynasty. How could he not know that Qin Hui was a successful Jinshi, the grandson-in-law of the prime minister, and that he had hit the nail on the head... Looking at the devastating impact of the Jin army in the Jing Kang and early Jianyan periods, who would have thought that the South could win?
For scholars like them, isn't it just that emptiness and trembling in their hearts, and then they just let it go until now? But it is that emptiness and trembling that distinguish the most fundamental things.
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